Attending Class Remotely

Purpose - Instructions for Students

This page is for students attending classes remotely, or for anyone joining an online meeting.

These instructions focus on Google Hangout Meet, but are relevant to any live conferencing tool.

For instructions about creating a meeting, see Creating a Meeting with Google Meet (for teachers).

If your professor is using something other than Hangout Meet, here's Biola's documentation on WebEx Conferencing, the Canvas documentation on Conferencing (BigBlueButton), and documentation on How to Join a Zoom class session.

Set Up Your Environment

It will be helpful to spend a few minutes arranging your space and getting things set up well before the class or meeting begins.

• Camera placement - if possible, set your laptop on something that is high enough so that the camera is eye level. For example: put it on top of an empty box on a table.
• Don't hold your phone - If you are using your phone, place it on something, rather than trying to hold it the whole time. Again, it's best if it can be eye level.
• Face the light. Try to set things up such that most of the light is in front of you. For example: face a window.
• Minimize background distractions. Others will see what's behind you.

Maintain Professional Decorum

Remember that you are participating in an academic environment. Even though you may be attending remotely from an informal location at home, please dress as you would for a face-to-face class. Be aware of your posture and appearance. For example, attending an online meeting while lying in bed in your pajamas would be considered inappropriate (as would doing the same in an on-campus classroom).

In general - try things out ahead of the meeting. You can do this now by going to meet.google.com and clicking "Join or start a meeting" then click "Continue" and you can see what your camera is showing.

You may find it helpful to have a glass of water, a comb/brush, and a mirror nearby, especially if you are presenting during the meeting.

Technology Tips

Video conferencing should work with no problem on laptops that were made in 2014 or later. Here are some tips that may help if you're experiencing trouble:

• If you have a slow internet connection, try plugging in to an ethernet cable instead of using a wireless connection. Most routers and laptops have ethernet ports. If you don't have one, sitting closer to the router may help.
• Use the Google Chrome browser since Hangouts Meet is made by Google, it's likely to work best in Chrome.
• If things seems slow, try closing all your other applications or even restarting your computer shortly before the meeting. This will make sure your computer resources aren't being used by other programs.

Starting the Meeting

Find the meeting link. It may be on a Canvas page, a Canvas announcement, in an email, or in a Google Calendar invitation.

For meetings using Google Hangouts Meet, the link will look something like this: https://meet.google.com/hyn-ghet-pvf

Once you click on the link, the browser may ask for permission to use your webcam and microphone. Click "Allow" if asked.

• Check to see if you're logged in to your Biola email account (1). If not, go to mail.biola.edu, log in, then in that same window, go to the meeting link.
• You can click the mic icon (2) to mute yourself. (It's on by default, so usually you won't do this)
• You can click on the webcam icon (3) to turn off your webcam. (Again, it's on by default, so usually you won't do this)
• When you're ready, click the green "Join Now" button (4)

During the Class / Meeting

Treat a remote class the same way you would an in-person face-to-face class. Give your full attention to the class, don't try to multitask with other activities. Don't use your phone or browse other web sites.

• Use headphones - this will minimize feedback and distractions
• Keep your microphone muted until you have a question or comment.
• Pay attention & stay engaged - it will be distracting to your teacher and others if you are doing other things during the class
• If you must leave temporarily, turn of your webcam.

You can view a text-chat window by clicking on the chat icon (5).

During the meeting, if you click on the picture of the person talking, a menu will appear along the bottom, with these options:

• Click the mic icon (6) to mute / unmute yourself (or type CTRL-D / Command-D)
• Click the webcam icon (7) to turn your webcam on / off (or type CTRL-E / Command-E)
• Click the CC icon (8) to turn on captions
• If your teacher asks you to do a presentation, you can show what's on your screen by clicking "Present now" (9) See Google's instructions: Present your screen during a meeting.
• For more options, click vertical ellipses menu (10) (Full screen, recording, screen layout, help)

When the meeting is over, click the red hang-up icon (11) to leave the meeting.